Residents oppose high-density zoning for affordable housing

Marinwood and Lucas Valley residents on Monday opposed the county's plan to rezone Grady Ranch as a site for affordable housing, joining other Marin residents who raised concerns about building low-cost housing on 16 sites across the county.

Eight acres of the 240 acres at Grady Ranch in Lucas Valley are being considered for inclusion in the county's proposed housing element — a state-mandated plan that establishes policies and programs to meet residents' housing needs. The property, located off Lucas Valley Road, is one of 16 being included in the element as a site for affordable housing.

At Monday's day-long Planning Commission hearing at the Civic Center, county planner Stacey Laumann said the county needs to approve more sites for affordable housing or face losing highway improvement grant funding.

"We have received provisional certification from the state," Laumann said about the current property list.

The updated housing element, which covers a planning period of 2007-2014, outlines staff's recommendation of potential sites in Marin's unincorporated area, where the goal of 443 more affordable homes can be accommodated, on top of the 330 units planned for since 2007.

The Planning Commission voted 4-3 Monday in a nonbinding straw vote — with commissioners Don Dickenson, Ericka Erickson and Katherine Crecelius dissenting — to include Grady Ranch and the 15 other properties in the draft supplemental environmental impact report for the housing element.

The next public hearing on the report is March 11.

Grady Ranch is also one of four properties planning staff are proposing be used for intense 30-unit per acre zoning. Other sites include 3.5 acres at the St. Vincent's-Silveira Ranch lands in San Rafael, two acres at the Golden Gate Baptist Seminary in Strawberry and a half-acre at Oak Hill School on Drake Avenue in Marin City.

The high-density zoning designation is aimed at easing state concerns about a lack of housing for low-income residents. A county housing plan submitted in 2009 was rejected by the state, which cited a need to ease development of affordable homes.

More than 70 people attended Monday's planning meeting. A majority of the 33 speakers voiced opposition to the 30-unit per acre zoning change on these sites and their inclusion in the affordable housing plan.

Lucas Valley resident Meehyun Kurtzman said placing 240 units of affordable housing at Grady Ranch, where there are no services, doesn't make sense.

"High-density housing in Lucas Valley is very inappropriate because there's no infrastructure ready," Kurtzman said.

Marinwood resident Deana Dearborn agreed. She said an advisory committee should be formed to look at the potential effect on schools.

"We're really concerned bringing all of these units into our neighborhood will greatly impact the schools and the value of the education," Dearborn said.

Residents raised concerns about nonprofit affordable housing companies being exempt from paying property taxes that would go to schools.

Marinwood resident Stephen Nestel said he's concerned about the financial and social impact the Grady Ranch units will have on the community. He said the Planning Commission isn't diversifying Marin by placing the majority of the units in Lucas Valley. "You're shoving it in the community that is least strong politically," Nestel said.

Celebrity filmmaker George Lucas has been working with the Marin Community Foundation to study the creation of a low-income housing complex at the ranch — hence its inclusion in the plan.

Lucas set his sights on housing after he dropped his plans to build a large studio on the property.

Strawberry resident Bruce Corcoran said the proposed plan for 60 affordable housing units at the seminary doesn't jive with the area's community plan.

"The density of this project is much more dense than anything else in Strawberry," Corcoran said.

Seminary neighbors said the proposed plan isn't clear as to where on the 73.6 acres of land the two acres of affordable housing would be located. Concerns were also raised about traffic problems the development could cause.

A handful of speakers encouraged the commission to move forward with the affordable housing designations.

San Rafael resident Marianne Lim said she owns multifamily housing property and supports affordable housing in the county.

"These are working individuals who need a place to live," Lim said.

Joe Hegedus, with the Marin Partnership to End Homelessness, said it's difficult for people to find housing in the county. He said the partnership operates 60 units of transitional housing in Novato, but has trouble finding its clients permanent housing.

"I think the consequence of inaction is continuing to have hundreds of homeless," Hegedus said. "I would be considered a low-income resident by these documents."

The local chapter of the League of Women Voters of Marin County and Eden Housing also voiced support for the housing element.

Laumann said the review period for the housing element's draft supplemental environmental impact report ends Feb. 19. The final environmental impact report will be reviewed in May.

 240 units of housing on eight acres of 240 acres at Grady Ranch in Lucas Valley.  105 units of housing on 3.5 acres of 1,100 acres at the St. Vincent's-Silveira Ranch lands in San Rafael. 60 units of housing on two acres of 73.57 acres at the Golden Gate Baptist Seminary in Strawberry. 15 units of housing on a half-acre of 3.87 acres at Oak Hill School on Drake Avenue in Marin City.